Avoiding Temptation vs Resisting Temptation

I’d like to compare my addiction to a water slide. The water slide is the addiction and my natural man is anxious to experience the thrill of the slide.

However, my spirit wants something better. My spirit knows that the thrill of the slide is only temporary and artificial and will not satisfy my desire for true long-lasting joy.

With that in mind let's imagine a young man sitting at the top of the slide. The water is already rushing past him and he is grasping tightly the sides of the slide -- he is just waiting for the signal to go.

So at this point, what are the chances of him resisting the temptation to start down the slide? And once he starts down the slide, what are the chances of him stopping? His chances of resisting at this point are slim to none.

The same is true of us and our addiction. Once we get to a certain point, the chance of us backing away or stopping is almost impossible. Let's admit it -- we have all been there!

Even if the young man at the top of a slide changes his mind, he still has to push his way past all the others waiting in line and walk down all those stairs to get to safety. That’s not very likely, especially if his natural man still wants to experience the thrill of the slide.

So one solution, rather than “resist temptation, is to “avoid temptation.”

Getting back to the water slide analogy: wouldn’t it be much easier to make a decision, at the foot of the water slide, to not climb all those stairs, and thus avoid the temptation altogether?

In fact, if you knew that water slides were bad, perhaps when you saw a water slide 100 yards away, you could decide to go off in another direction and avoid the slide altogether.

If we have a temptation right in front of us, close enough that we can reach out and touch it, our chance of resisting it is very small. However, if the temptation is far off, and we choose to avoid it, our chance of success is great.

"Avoiding" temptation is more effective than "resisting" temptation!

Along this same line of thinking, it's my understanding that we all have our own rituals when we start getting close to temptation – we follow the same paths over and over again.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can identify early on when we are starting down that path and avoid going any further. We have been down that path before and we already know where it leads.

Think of the last time you acted out or relapsed. What led up to your acting out? Like the stairs up to the water slide, what path did you take?

I challenge you to mentally walk back down that path, down the stairs of the water slide, to it’s beginning. Now, in your mind, pinpoint the start of that path!!! At that point what could you have done to avoid going any further?

So next time you find yourself starting down that path, or up those stairs, stop yourself and avoid going any further -- you already know where it leads!!!

P.S. I chose a water slide for my analogy because it really is a "slippery slope". And once you start down that path, you know where you're going to end up.